Lakers v. Hawks
Final Score: Lakers 101 Hawks 87
The Lakers folllowed up the San Antonio game with a repeat performance against the Hawks. The Lakers have improved to a record of 46-19 and now have won eight straight games. The Lakers rolled into Atlanta and to simply put it, over-powered the Hawks. Inside dominance, strong defense, and clean basketball helped the Lakers win their first game in Atlanta since February of 2007.
Once again the height advantage played a key roll in the routing of the Hawks. Andrew Bynum showed up to work and earned his paycheck. He finished the game with 16 points, 16 rebounds, and three blocks. Yes, Al Horford did have a pretty good game but Bynum was just too big for him. Bynum was dunking, getting alley-oops, layups, and simple put-backs. The Lakers outscored the Hawks in the paint 44 to 20, once again showing the height and dominance of the defending champs. But what about Kobe Bryant?
Hats off to Kobe Bryant for passing Moses Malone for 6th on the all time scoring leaders list. He definitely has put the work into it and is well deserving of the title. "I'm just very fortunate, that's all," Bryant said. Mr. Cool and Collective he is. Next up for Kobe....SHAQ. When (not if) Kobe passes Shaq, it will be one more thing Kobe is better at than Shaq. He now has more rings than Shaq and will be ahead of Shaq on the scoring list. Kobe had 26 points, six rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block. Once again he, along with the rest of Lakers are filling up the stat sheet.
"It was a matter of understanding and picking his spots and learning to play the game on the NBA level. And he did that. ... He's a phenomenal player." Larry Drew, the former Laker player now Hawks head coach.
How The Game Was Won...
Inside dominance and ferocious defense was the key to tonight's win. Defense wins championships and defense also leads to offense. The Lakers hammered the Hawks inside the paint scoring 44 points in the paint. The Lakers' bigs (Gasol and Bynum) played a little bit of the high-low offense and looked real smooth and efficient doing it. But if a game ball was going to be given out, Bynum would be the recipient of it. His presence inside the paint molded how the Lakers were going to execute their offense. He not only blocked shots but changed and challenged a lot of the shots that even came in the vicinity of him. His athleticism showed up even with a surgically repaired knee. Not to steal any thunder away from Kobe, he played a well balanced game...he even had a block on Josh Smith. The grind it out, slow, methodical, and brutal half court sets seem to be the compliment to nine game win streak.
NitPicking
The Lakers bench played down to the level of Miami's bench. They did score 27 points (Lamar led them with 12) but started to give away a lead in the 2nd and 3rd quarters forcing Phil to put the starters back in. The bench needs to pick it up and play at the same level of the starters. The Lakers' bench has the players to make up a starting five in Cleavland. But if there was one aspect of negativity from this game it would be the bench play. BENCH PICK IT UP!!!
Coming Up
Lakers head into Miami putting their nine game win streak on the line. The Heat have lost five in a row now so expect them to come out playing with a high level of intensity. I believe it will be a close game but I like the Lakers in this one. They have too much momentum heading into the game...Atlanta is no slouch of a team. But the Heat game is a game for the fans, the Lakers would probably like to skip this game and head into Dallas (Western Conference key game). The Dallas game, I think, would mean more in the "playoff picture".
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
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